The thing I’ve missed most about L.A. since I left is the live music (and my barber). Seriously, there is no better place to get an introduction to new sounds. I’m especially kicking myself because I didn’t get to see two bands that I really wanted to see live. The first was Goldspot. The second one was Rupa and the April Fishes. An Indian girl that sings in fluent Spanish and French and can stop you from bleeding out if you’ve been shot? That is absolutely hot enough to fry fishes!
As a doctor by day and a singer by night, third-year UCSF internal medicine resident Rupa Marya, MD, is living her dream…Marya, 30, is an Indian woman who grew up in the Bay Area, France and India. She has known that she’s wanted to be both a physician and a performer since childhood, and has found ways to achieve balance while pursuing both passions.
“My kindergarten teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I said, ‘a surgeon and a ballerina.’ She said I had to choose one. But I couldn’t choose, and now I find I’m a better doctor when I’m an artist and I’m a better artist when I’m a doctor. The passion for both comes from the same source,” says Marya… Previously part of an American folk duo, Marya has gone back to her multicultural roots, tapping into several cultural genres and singing most of the songs in French. “What is created is a living music and lively performance which gives voice to the fluidity of experience moving between different places, a sonic examination of being at the edge of different cultural identities,” according to her website.
The six band members bring together an eclectic assortment of music traditions — mixing French chanson with Gypsy waltzes, Indian ragas, sultry tangos and bossa nova — to create a romantic and lyrical sound reminiscent of bohemian Paris. [Link]
The group’s sound has a Devotchka-esque eclectic-ness to it. Enough talk! Bring out the music:
Their MySpace page has even more music. I especially like the song “Poder.” While I am listening to it I imagine myself kicking ass and taking names in a shady Mexican bar, like Antonio Banderas in the movie Desperado. And then Rupa could come along and heal them all because…ummm…she’s a singing doctor. Okay, maybe that was too much info to put out there.
The other thing I like about their website is that it has some really cool artwork. Check out the piece at the bottom of this page. And let’s not forget the fishes:
ed “master” baskerville: celloaaron “rhone” kierbel: percussion, fish
marcus “the tone” cohen: trumpet
isabel “iz” douglass: accordion
eliyahu sills: upright bass
rupa: watery songs, voice, guitar
Rupa is on tour with her band this spring but you have to live between San Francisco and Tijuana to catch a show. Oh, did I mention that her tour, titled “Por la Frontera,” is trying to raise awareness about immigrant rights issues? Via Los Anjalis:
This tour was inspired by several patients i met working at sf general, immigrants who came to health care too late in their disease process for fear of being deported. it struck me as messed up that a policy could alienate someone from their own sense of health so much that they would not seek help when they knew they needed it.
Please. Go bring me some fishes already.
